Robbed of "Lypky": how the State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Oleksiy Takhtay sold property in Kyiv

The State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Oleksiy Takhtay used forgery to obtain consent for the sale of valuable property in the center of Kyiv, and the National Police did everything to make others responsible in this deal.

For the sixth year in a row, reforms are ongoing in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Ministry is getting rid of everything it can, or reach. For example, the premises of the Road Police in the Pechersk district of Kyiv, where the State Enterprise of the Ministry of Internal Affairs "Inform Resources" "temporarily" settled in after the liquidation of the State Traffic Inspectorate.

Not so long ago, this bureaucratic monster of the Ministry of Internal Affairs system almost monopolistically managed the agency’s registers, issued certificates of no criminal record, documents necessary for obtaining weapon permits, and so on. "Inform Resources" had branches in every region of the country, a large fleet of vehicles, and most importantly - many real estate objects.

The state enterprise reported revenue totaling about 60 million UAH, but at the end of 2018 - beginning of 2019, a miracle happened. "Inform Resources" found itself on the verge of bankruptcy, and numerous objects of its property were under tax lien. However, such a restriction did not stop the ideologues and authors of the scandalous deal, as a result of which the state lost valuable real estate in the very center of Kyiv.

Part One. How buildings were sold using forgeries and who sent these forgeries

As journalists found out, the approval for the sale of the complex of these buildings located on Viiskovyi Drive in the Pechersk district of the capital was issued by the State Property Fund of Ukraine on May 30, 2018. The real estate was valued at almost 19 million UAH and sold at a repeat auction to the "Universal Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange" in Kyiv. The latter turned out to be a secretive structure: currently, their phones are silent, email is turned off, and it is impossible to enter their office. However, two years ago, this did not prevent the exchange from being involved in the story of the alienation of property, which de jure was under tax lien.

Now all participants of those events admit - the criminal scheme was implemented through manipulation and forgery of documents. Using forgeries, the tax lien was canceled, and the property of "Inform Resources" was auctioned off.

The "green light" for this process was turned on at the State Property Fund of Ukraine. Here, journalists were informed that indeed, on May 30, 2018, they approved the sale of valuable state buildings in the Pechersk district "at the submission of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the managing subject of the SE of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ’Inform Resources’."

Translated from "bureaucratic" to straightforward language, this means that the document from the bowels of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (plus all its attachments) turned out to be key in the subsequent deal.

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The appropriate submission was sent to the SPFU by the former Deputy Minister, and now the State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Oleksiy Takhtai, back in March 2018. The accompanying documents included a valuation of "Inform Resources’" property, deeds, schemes, and most importantly - a letter from the Main Department of the State Fiscal Service in Kyiv.

In it, it was stated that the fiscal authorities "give consent to the sale of state property at the address of Kyiv, Viiskovyi Drive, 8," which was under tax lien, taking into account that the taxpayer had provided a real estate object in Mykolaiv region as collateral." Below, the signature of the Deputy Head of the Main Department of the State Fiscal Service in Kyiv, Lesya Brytska, was placed.

However, this document, as well as Brytska’s signature under it, is a blatant forgery, and in reality, no consent for the sale of buildings was provided by the SFS.

Journalists found out that there is also a real letter from tax officials which does not mention any consent. The fiscal department reported that they learned about the existence of the forgery during the trial about the sale of state property which was under lien.

Thus, it all seems as if the former Deputy Minister, and now the State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Oleksiy Takhtay, signed the submission and sent to the fund a hastily made forgery. During a long period, Detective-Info tried to contact Takhtai, but in response to their calls and messages, he blocked the journalist of Detective-Info in WhatsApp messenger.

(Oleksiy Takhtai)

It should be noted that the potential involvement of the MIA State Secretary is only part of the broader puzzle of the criminal scheme. The thing is, to imitate the absence of problems with the scandalous property, the scheme participants had to actually remove the lien from the property at Viiskovyi Drive, 8.

For this purpose, one more forgery was made - someone "crafted" a court decision of the Leninsky District Court of the Dnipropetrovsk region, where false information about the cancellation of the lien was added. Subsequently, the criminals brought this forged decision to the state registrar, and she "blessed" their plan. It is known that now this woman-registrar, involved in several criminal proceedings, is hiding from law enforcement agencies. However, that’s not all.

Part Two. How a high-ranking Ministry of Internal Affairs official was saved by his subordinates

It turned out that the state in this story was robbed again later - the money from the sale of the buildings on Viiskovyi Drive was simply stolen! Such a deal, of course, could not pass unnoticed by law enforcement.

Regarding the incident, the police registered two criminal cases, during which they demonstrated a talent for "juggling" the original documents used during the fraud. Who possesses them now is a mystery. But according to journalists, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine has already expressed interest in them. It has already sent a third criminal case regarding the "Road Police fraud" for investigation. And the NABU already complained that obstructions to their work were attempted from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The court registry materials reveal that the Deputy Director of the MIA’s Legal Support Department, Olha Hubaryeva, in particular, stood out with this. She did not provide NABU detectives with the necessary information regarding this deal with the sale of the "Inform Resources" building upon their official request. The court of first instance found her guilty of committing an administrative offense, but this ruling was later overturned on appeal.

The pre-trial investigation by NABU is still ongoing. Journalists were told on Surykov Street: they are studying the involvement not only of the leadership of SE "Inform Resources" in the deal, but also, attention - of MIA officials. However, at the time of preparing this material, none of them had been informed of suspicion. But it is known where the money received from the illegal sale of the Pechersk Road Police building disappeared.

Part Three. How the money from the sale of state property was stolen and who they want to make scapegoats

So, out of the nearly 19 million UAH received by SE "Inform Resources" from the sale of property, the criminals stole about 17 million. They were "funneled" into the accounts of three companies, which most likely existed only on paper and then withdrawn in cash. Although they never actually provided any services, works, or goods for SE "Inform Resources."

This raises a logical question: who should be held accountable for this? In the National Police, it seems, they have already determined the answer and found two culprits.

The first is the former director of "Inform Resources," Yukhannan Babayev, who is currently wanted, and in the fall of 2019, posted photos from Donetsk on social networks.

(Yukhannan Babayev)

The second suspect is the former chief accountant of the SE of the Ministry of Internal Affairs "Inform Resources," Iryna Ruban, but even with her, everything does not look smooth. The fact is that the woman’s lawyer, Volodymyr Chebotaryov, insists: during the implementation of the fraud and the withdrawal of money from the accounts of the state enterprise, Ruban was on sick leave and on vacation.

(Iryna Ruban)

According to the defence, there is no evidence in the case materials that his client committed even one of the crimes imputed to her. The further fate of the accountant should be decided by the court - her case is scheduled for consideration in December 2020.

Part Four. The buyer of the troubled asset

Be that as it may, but the fact remains that the valuable building of the former Road Police of the Pechersk district on Viiskovyi Drive has indeed fallen into private hands. Entrepreneurs operating nearby assured journalists that the new owner of the premises is the LLC "Persevbuid," formed 2 months before the deal, which bought the property for almost 19 million UAH at a repeat auction.

Open registers show that this company is registered to the Virgin Islands offshore "Alessio Universal S.A.," owned by Odesa resident Yuriy Sereshchenko. The latter is a former member of the supervisory board of Bank "Khreschatyk" and a confidant of former owner of the financial institution, businessman Vasyl Khmelnytskyi. Khmelnytskyi is already a majority shareholder of the Ukrainian construction group UDP, which is building the block of elite Kyiv real estate "Novopecherski Lypky," located close to the sold buildings of the Ministry of Internal Affairs "Inform Resources."

According to one version, Khmelnytskyi learned that he became the buyer of a scandalous asset with a criminal background after the deal’s execution. Now the buildings on Viiskovyi Drive are under arrest. And the dry residue of the story is the illegal sale of state property on forged documents, disappearance of money into thin air, two suspects, and an MIA official ignoring journalists’ questions.

Source: detective-info